Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli today defended the criminal charges he's brought against two businessmen who allegedly defrauded Bethlehem Township.

In a 29-page document filed in Northampton County Court, Morganelli argued the charges of theft, criminal conspiracy and misapplication of entrusted funds against Robert Kearns and Patrick "P.J." McLaine should be allowed to move forward. Their company, Municipal Energy Management Inc. of Moscow, Pa., entered into a contract with Bethlehem Township to purchase and maintain the municipality's streetlights from PPL in 2007 for $1.1 million. However, MEM did not even attempt to contact the energy company until months after the contract expired in 2009, according to court documents.

Morganelli argued in his filing today that the majority of the money was supposed to be used for acquiring the street lights from PPL, and thus did not belong to MEM. Of the entire $1.1 million deal, MEM was only supposed to earn $50,060, he said.

"The fact is that the defendants were holding the bulk of the $832,000 as a fiduciary," he said.

Morganelli also argued the $1.1 million total is proof MEM was less than honest. The township later learned the entire deal should have cost in the neighborhood of $270,000, according to court documents.

"A jury may infer criminal intent in that the defendants fraudulently obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from the township well in excess of the cost of the project, which they knew from their experience," he said.

The township filed a lawsuit last month against Concord Public Financial Advisors, the company that advised the municipality to enter into the contract with MEM. That lawsuit alleges Concord did not vet MEM's figures or cost estimates.